Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions Guide

Quick answer: Amazon's behavioral questions are built around its Leadership Principles, such as Customer Obsession, Ownership, Dive Deep and Deliver Results. Candidates commonly report "Tell me about a time..." questions in nearly every round, so prepare specific STAR stories that use "I" rather than "we", and be ready for several follow-up questions that test the details. A bank of eight to twelve stories, each mapped to two or three principles, is usually enough to cover a full loop.

This guide is for software engineers and other tech candidates interviewing at Amazon anywhere in the world. It gives a sample question for each principle, a full model answer, what candidates commonly report about the loop, and a preparation plan.

What the Amazon Leadership Principles are

Amazon publishes its Leadership Principles on its careers site and lists 16 of them at the time of writing (checked 15 October 2026). They describe how Amazon wants employees to make decisions, and candidates for engineering, product and operations roles alike commonly report that interviewers use them to frame behavioral questions.

So start your behavioral preparation from the principles, not a generic question list. Note which of your projects shows each one, and focus on those that match the job description: a customer-facing team may lean on Customer Obsession, while an infrastructure team may probe Dive Deep and Insist on the Highest Standards.

Example questions for each Leadership Principle

Use these as practice prompts. Interviewers phrase questions in many ways, so focus on the behavior each principle describes rather than memorizing exact wording.

1. Customer Obsession: "Tell me about a time you changed a plan because of customer feedback."

2. Ownership: "Describe a time you took on a problem outside your area because nobody else was fixing it."

3. Invent and Simplify: "Tell me about a time you found a simpler way to solve a complicated problem."

4. Are Right, A Lot: "Tell me about a decision you made with incomplete data. How did it turn out?"

5. Learn and Be Curious: "Describe something you taught yourself recently and how you used it at work."

6. Hire and Develop the Best: "Tell me about a time you helped a colleague grow their skills."

7. Insist on the Highest Standards: "Tell me about a time you refused to ship something that was not good enough."

8. Think Big: "Describe a time you proposed an idea that was bigger than your original assignment."

9. Bias for Action: "Tell me about a time you made a quick decision without all the information you wanted."

10. Frugality: "Describe a time you delivered a result with fewer resources than you expected."

11. Earn Trust: "Tell me about a time you received critical feedback. What did you do with it?"

12. Dive Deep: "Tell me about a problem you solved by digging into the data or the logs."

13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: "Describe a time you disagreed with your manager. What happened after the decision was made?"

14. Deliver Results: "Tell me about the most difficult goal you delivered and the obstacles you hit."

15. Strive to be Earth's Best Employer: "Describe how you made your team a better place to work."

16. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility: "Tell me about a time you considered the wider impact of a technical or product decision."

A full model answer: Dive Deep

Question: "Tell me about a problem you solved by digging into the data." Candidate: a backend engineer at a mid-size travel booking company (fictional).

"Situation: our hotel search API slowed down every weekday morning, and the on-call team had been restarting servers to clear it. Task: I picked up the ticket because I owned the search caching layer and the restarts were only hiding the cause. Action: I pulled two weeks of request logs and lined them up against deployment and scheduled job times. The slow periods matched a nightly price import that was finishing late and overlapping with morning traffic. I traced the import's queries and found that one skipped an index after a schema change, which locked a table the search API depended on. I added the index, moved the import window earlier, and set an alert on the import's finish time so we would know if it drifted again. Result: the morning slowdowns stopped, the on-call team no longer needed manual restarts, and the alert caught an overrun a month later before customers noticed. Lesson: when a fix becomes routine, I treat that as a sign the real cause has not been found."

Expect the interviewer to keep pulling on the thread: Which metric pointed to the import? What did you rule out? What if the index had not fixed it? Prepare those details for every story, because follow-ups are where vague answers fall apart.

How the Amazon interview loop is commonly described

Amazon's own interviewing at Amazon page says the process differs from role to role and mentions Bar Raisers as part of how it hires (checked 15 October 2026). Your recruiter is the best source for your exact schedule, so ask what each round will cover.

For software engineering roles, candidates commonly report an online assessment or phone screen, then a final loop of several interviews, usually over video. Coding and, at senior levels, system design are often mixed with Leadership Principle questions in the same session. Candidates also commonly describe the Bar Raiser as an experienced interviewer from outside the hiring team.

For the technical side of the loop, see system design interview with AI and our overview of the big tech software engineer interview process.

How to prepare your Leadership Principle stories

1. Read every principle and the job description, and highlight the four or five principles the role seems to emphasize.

2. Write eight to twelve stories from the last few years. Include at least one failure, one disagreement with a manager or senior colleague, and one story where you acted with incomplete information.

3. Map each story to two or three principles in a simple grid, so you can see gaps at a glance.

4. Add the specifics a Dive Deep follow-up will ask for: what you measured, what you ruled out, and what the result was.

5. Practice each story out loud in STAR form, then have a friend ask three follow-up questions you have not prepared for.

The common mistakes are the same as in any behavioral round, but follow-ups expose them quickly: saying "we" instead of "I", giving a result without evidence, blaming others, and using the same story twice with the same panel. Our STAR method examples guide covers the structure in more detail.

How CrackInterviewAI helps you practice

CrackInterviewAI is a Windows 10/11 app that turns a spoken, typed or screenshot question into a short answer outline, using your resume, target role and job description as context. New accounts get 30 free minutes; after that, international prices start at $3.99 for one hour, with no subscription or auto-renewal (USD plans).

For Amazon preparation, upload your resume and paste the job description, then type questions from the list above one principle at a time. The outlines reference your own projects, which makes it quicker to see which stories fit which principle and where your bank has gaps. Practice the follow-ups too by typing the questions a Dive Deep interviewer would ask next. Mock practice and preparation are always fair; during a real Amazon interview or online assessment, follow the rules you are given, since many interviews and almost all online assessments prohibit live assistance.

Rehearse your Amazon stories

Download CrackInterviewAI for Windows and use your 30 free minutes to practice Leadership Principle answers built from your own resume.

Download for Windows · See USD plans from $3.99

Frequently asked questions

How many Amazon Leadership Principles are there?

Amazon lists 16 Leadership Principles on its careers site, as checked in October 2026. The list has changed over the years, so check the official page before your interview.

Do software engineers get Leadership Principle questions at Amazon?

Yes. Candidates commonly report behavioral questions in most rounds, including coding and system design interviews, so prepare your stories as seriously as you prepare algorithms.

What is a Bar Raiser in an Amazon interview?

Amazon's hiring page mentions Bar Raisers as part of its process. Candidates commonly describe the Bar Raiser as an experienced interviewer, often from outside the hiring team, who helps keep the hiring standard consistent.

Can I use one story for several Leadership Principles?

Yes. A strong project often shows Ownership, Dive Deep and Deliver Results at once. Avoid repeating the same story to different interviewers in the same loop.

What if I am a new graduate with little work experience?

Use internships, university projects, hackathons, part-time jobs and open-source work. The principles are about behavior, so a well-told project story counts as long as you can explain your own actions and results.

Keep exploring

Return to the CrackInterviewAI homepage to download the Windows app, or browse all guides on the interview prep blog.

Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions: Examples and How to Prepare